Washington — An alleged tie between Jews and a film that sparked violence in the Arab world by insulting the prophet Mohammed, put Jewish activists on alert following the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans during riots against the film.

Jewish activists feared a widely reported role of Jews in funding and producing the film, which contains crude attacks on Islam, could stain the community as a whole as anti-Muslim.

But a search for a person presenting himself as responsible for the film who said his name was “Sam Bacile” led to a dead end. Eventually, another man involved in making the movie admitted Bacile’s name was a pseudonym and said that the alleged producer of the film is not Israeli and is probably not Jewish.

The claim that Jewish money was behind the film also lost ground as the partner, California Christian anti-Muslim activist Steve Klein, stated the movie was a low-budget project which he himself described as a “bad fifth grade production.”

An actress who appears in the film said she was duped and never knew it was about Islam or the prophet Mohammed.

The movie, titled “The Innocence of Muslims,” was made a year ago and a 14-minute trailer was published online in July. It gained attention in the Muslim world after being translated to Arabic and uploaded to YouTube by Morris Sadek, head of the U.S.-based National Coptic Assembly, an anti-Muslim organization presenting itself as speaking on behalf of the Christian Coptic minority in Egypt. (In Egypt, Coptic leaders have denounced the film).

The release of the Arabic language YouTube trailer led to a series of protests at the U.S. embassy in Cairo during which a few protesters breached the embassy wall and hoisted a black Islamic flag in place of the U.S. flag. More seriously, unknown individuals killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans when they attacked the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, using a rocket propelled grenade.

Initially, a person using the name of Sam Bacile assumed responsibility for producing the film. In an interview with the Associated Press, the person said he was a California real estate developer with dual U.S. and Israeli citizenship, that he was Jewish and that the film was produced at the cost of $5 million which he raised from 100 Jewish donors. Israeli officials made clear no such name exists on Israel’s population registration. The name “Sam Bacile” also showed up nowhere on California business registries. Jewish activists in California and nationwide said they had never encountered the person.

As the dust settled, it became clear that Jewish donors and activists are not involved in the project. Steve Klein, who heads a small California organization known as Citizens for the First Amendment came out as a consultant to the film and confirmed there was no Jewish connection.

According to Adina Holzman, assistant director of research at the Anti Defamation League, “Klein was involved in the past in anti-Muslim efforts” that included passing out flyers warning against Islamic teaching in public schools. In an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 TV, Klein acknowledged the movie was meant to be a provocation, aimed at Muslims living in California.

Klein, with partners he did not name, wanted to have area Muslims come watch the movie, thinking it was praising Islam, and then watch two hours of a hateful attack on prophet Mohammed. “We needed to get the truth to them about Mohammed,” he said.

For the filmmaker provocateurs, presenting the film as a Jewish-Israeli endeavor “served to set up the dichotomy between good and evil, between Israel, on the one hand, and the Islam on the other,” said the ADL’s Holzman.

Meanwhile, actress Cindy Garcia, who says she appears in the movie, posted a bitter denounciation of the film’s creators in an online post.

“When the movie was… there was no mention of Mohammad,” Garcia wrote in a YouTube user profile. “There was nothing evil in my role. I have not even seen the whole movie, so i was deceived.”

Top Stories

The Jewish Daily Forward welcomes reader comments in order to promote thoughtful discussion on issues of importance to the Jewish community. In the interest of maintaining a civil forum, The Jewish Daily Forwardrequires that all commenters be appropriately respectful toward our writers, other commenters and the subjects of the articles. Vigorous debate and reasoned critique are welcome; name-calling and personal invective are not. While we generally do not seek to edit or actively moderate comments, our spam filter prevents most links and certain key words from being posted and The Jewish Daily Forward reserves the right to remove comments for any reason.

Inspired by his Brooklyn childhood, The Little Beet chef/owner developed a gluten-free version of apple pie for his restaurant that's the perfect #passover dessert: baked apples with vanilla-walnut charoset.

Has your non-Jewish colleague told you Passover is only one night — or that Hanukkah always falls on December 25? That's #goysplaining, says Lilit Marcus.
Have you ever been goysplained?

It's only been a day since Trevor Noah was appointed Jon Stewart's The Daily Show successor, and he's now being slammed for old anti-Semitic tweets.
What do you think of Noah's tweets? Let us know in the comments.

Israel's own Black Panthers once latched onto the #Passover story to challenge Ashkenazi domination. The radicals issued their own Haggadah, which mentioned strikes and injustice — but not God.

Fans of the The Daily Show are wondering how new host, Trevor Noah, will address the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Well, his past posts on social media indicate he probably won’t be appearing at next year’s AIPAC conference

#Passover is now five days away. That means matzo, matzo, and more matzo — kind of a mood killer. Here are 6 things you should watch to get you revved up for Seder.

Even though it's often men who lead the Seder in traditional Jewish families, Avi Shafran believes that the Seder itself is maternal in its quality and purpose.

From our friends at Kveller.com, need something delicious for a Passover snack? How about this potato pizza kugel!

#Passover is especially meaningful — and challenging — when you're converting. Take it from Kelsey Osgood, who felt like a 'stranger in a strange land' at her first Seder.

Ex-Navy Seal Eric Greitens is plunging into the GOP primary for #Missouri governor — the same race shaken by the suicide of a candidate dogged by an anti-Jewish 'whisper campaign.'

"My cousin and I are both dating non-Jews who are considering converting. Is it wrong to ask our dad to tone down the Seder this year so they get a nicer impression of Judaism?"
Check out the advice in this week's #Seesaw: http://jd.fo/p8Jdx

In her now infamous New Yorker piece, Lena Dunham acted like an outsider looking in. Doing this made it not just unfunny but anti-Semitic, J.E. Reich says.

In Rabat, Jonathan Katz found more tolerance for Jews than he’s seen in many "clean and safe" Western cities. So why is #Morocco often described as "dirty and dangerous"?

As far as we know, Abraham Lincoln never said, "Some of my best friends are Jewish." But clearly he could have.

Vayter / ווײַטער: A biweekly blog presenting original Yiddish articles, fiction, essays, videos and art by young writers and artists.

We will not share your e-mail address or other personal information.

The Forward occasionally sends promotional e-mails to our subscribers on behalf of selected sponsors, whose advertising supports our independent journalism. We hope you will look at their messages and find their offers interesting to you, but if you would like to opt out of receiving them, please uncheck this box.